Keeping Up with the Trumps: A Personal History of Teaching Fascism

In this article, the author draws upon two decades’ worth of syllabi and lecture notes to reflect on his approach to teaching about fascism, and the ways in which shifting social, political and institutional contexts have informed his framing of its histories. In particular, he emphasises the challenges of navigating between the competing imperatives of historicism and presentism, and of responding to changing expectations from students, administrations, fellow scholars and the general public. For fascism to retain its explanatory power, he argues, instructors must move beyond static narratives and find ways of making it meaningful for audiences in a world of constant flux.